Following one of the most unusual federal rulings in recent history, which barred a Haitian-American journalist from publishing the Haitian prime minister's name, District Judge Ursula Ungaro lifted her judgment in Miami court yesterday, granting Leo Joseph his First Amendment rights.

Which means: Booya. Grab your popcorn -- this defamation case may be going to trial.

In a three-part mea culpa, Ungaro said the original judgment against Joseph, who owns and edits the Haiti Observateur, constituted prior restraint and was "unfavored."

"Judgments that enjoin the publication of non-defamatory statements are invalid," Ungaro wrote.

This whole fracas pitting one of Haiti's most influential -- and controversial -- newspapers and the nation's political establishment arcs back to last year.

Joseph, gray-haired, adversarial, and 74, had published a thinly sourced article alleging Haiti Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe had set himself up to embezzle $25 million in the sale of a government-owned telephone company named Haitel. Joseph alleged that Lamothe, who once owned an additional telemarketing company, orchestrated a meeting in New York with the Haiti consul general to christen the deal.

In his absence, Lamothe's lawyers slid before Ungaro a default judgment. They'd scuttled inside a clause that wasn't in their earlier complaints, barring Joseph from ever again publishing anything related to Lamothe.

Ungaro inked the ruling, and we were off to the races.

Last time we wrote a story on this, Lamothe's attorney, Miguel Armenteros, said, "This thing may be going to trial."

It would appear that prediction was spot-on. And we can only hope the Haiti prime minister will be coming to South Florida for the circus.

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